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Book Nook provides readers with insights into the world of books. Vick Mickunas takes you into the center of the publishing world with the latest book buzz, book reviews, and exclusive chats with authors..Home > Blogs > Book Nook > Archives > 2007 > March > 16
Friday, March 16, 2007
notorious former Daytonian defends Ann Coulter
Dayton native Ted Rall, the noted political cartoonist, author, and pundit has weighed in on Ann Coulter’s latest verbal faux pas, her reference to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. She called Edwards a “faggot” and a number of newspapers have responded by dropping her syndicated column.
If you missed my earlier posts about the Coulter brouhaha they were: a Letter to Ann Coulter and Ann Coulter Versus Bill Maher.
Rall wrote a letter that defends Ann Coulter’s right to free speech. Rall might not agree with her but he thinks that Coulter should be allowed to say the things that she says. Rall knows what it feels like to be attacked for expressing a viewpoint. It happened to Ted Rall after 9/11.
Rall, who grew up in Kettering, is the author of numerous books. His most recent literary efforts include AMERICA GONE WILD-Cartoons by Ted Rall(Andrews McMeel Publishing) and SILK ROAD TO RUIN-Is Central Asia the New Middle East?(NBM Publishing).
I have interviewed Ted on a number of occasions. The last time I spoke to him was last summer when he boldly predicted that Republicans would lose control of Congress.
Ted recounted one of my favorite restaurant anecdotes in SILK ROAD. Ted and his buddy were hungry and they stopped someplace to eat. They were in Central Asia.They noticed a pack of starving dogs milling about near where they were seated. The waiter brought their food and they didn’t know what to make of it. Something about it just did not look right.
So, Ted tossed his food to the starving dogs. The alpha pack leader took a bite of the food, yelped, and ran off.
The moral of the story? You are what you eat.
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is Laura Bush a chain smoker?
Well, she could be. That’s the rumor. Presidents (and their spouses) are entitled to some measure of privacy, right? That’s why you never saw a photo of FDR in his wheelchair. That’s why JFK’s hound dog ways were virtually unknown until years after his death. And Bill Clinton ? Well, he put it best when he said that he did not have sex with that woman.
Besides, smoking isn’t that cool anymore. Lots of people still do it but it is a dirty little secret for many. Even in tobacco growing states like Tennessee the popularity of the stinky weed is in decline.
I try to avoid cigarettes and pretzels. I don’t enjoy choking (or smoking) but I am fascinated with tobacco. My dad smoked. Winston’s. A pack a day. He blamed the Marine Corps. It seems that the tobacco lobby was so powerful when my dad served during WWII that every soldier’s rations included cigarettes. Most young guys who entered the service didn’t even smoke. Many picked up the habit during those moments of boredom when the guns were quiet.
A lovely new book has provided me with lots of info about this noxious but completely legal product.THE CIGARETTE CENTURY- The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the Product That Defined America by by Allan M. Brandt (Basic Books) is a veritable humidor of material.
Brandt, a professor at Harvard gives readers all the scuttlebutt on this amazing product. No product has ever been so heavily advertised. It was portrayed as sexy and glamourous. Athletes and movie stars endorsed what is essentially a useless, dangerous product. For years the hazards were concealed from the public.
Those sexy ad campaigns are here as well as the strategies the tobacco companies employed to sell their products. Then, there are the lies. Lots of them, that were perpetrated to protect those profits while they were killing their customers.
It’s good stuff. When I finished the book I almost wanted a cigarette. Almost.
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